Changelings
THIS PAGE IS STILL HEAVILY UNDER CONSTRUCTION Creation While the Fae prefer to keep to themselves and stay out of mortal affairs, there is one interesting tradition with which they aid the souls of the Mortal Realm. When a body is left behind in a Fae Garden, the Fae will gather up the magic of the deceased’s soul and bring it with them to the Fae Realm. There, the soul will be offered a choice; to stay within the Fae Realm and become one of the Fae, or to pass on like other mortal souls. Since these souls have already lived a mortal life, the Fae cannot/will not give them the option to return to the mortal world and begin anew. However, the same cannot be said for the souls of infants who died in childbirth or soon afterward. It is said that infant souls who grow up in the Fae Realm will sometimes be given a chance to return to the Mortal Realm as a changeling, though how they acquire a corporeal and mortal body is a secret that the Fae Folk refuse to share. Location Before their "rebirth" as a changeling, the Fae Folk will ask a future changeling where they would like to wake up. Kinda like a when you take a nap on the bus and ask someone to wake you at your stop. Only in this case, you wake up with no idea where you are, why you're there, and no memories about anything before waking up at that stop. It seems that most changelings are sensible enough to ask to be reborn near other people, since most changelings are found by other mortals soon after awakening. Either that or the ones who aren't found die quickly and alone in the wilderness. That being said, I'm inclined to think the Fae Folk wouldn't give a soul a chance at a new life, only to willingly drop them off somewhere they'd be stranded. The Fae Folk choose a Fae Garden close to the changeling's chosen location, create a body for the soul, and finally, take that soul through the boundary between the realms and place it into the physical form. At that moment, a changeling is born. Awakening All changelings wake up in Fae Gardens somewhere in the Mortal Realm, usually bearing a young adolescent or even adult body. Most of their memories of the Fae Realm are already gone by this point, and what few remain fade rapidly, like a forgotten dream. The Fae are not stupid and will dress the changeling in clothes before they wake up. These garments may or may not be made out or burial cloths, but clothes are clothes. Odds are, they're probably stumbling out of the woods or mountains somewhere, so it's not like having old scrap cloth clothing is gonna look TOO odd... Adapting to a Physical Form Despite their complete amnesia, changelings are born with a few instincts that non-changeling babies have to learn during their early development. They're clumsier than average, but know how to do all basic motor functions, just like the Fae do when they build bodies for themselves in the mortal realm. They also suffer/benefit from a sort of deja vu. Changelings are "born" with a sense of purpose that they don't quite know how to accomplish or even articulate, but stays very strong throughout their lives. This feeling is a manifestation of the reason WHY the soul decided to become a changeling when they were given the choice back in the Fae Realm. Changelings also retain a sense of self that they had developed during their time "growing up" in the Fae Realm. Your preferences and desires have still shaped your soul into a unique individual, even if you can't remember the context behind these instincts. Often, changelings compare this sense of disconnected identity to how it feels when you're looking for a specific word, but can't remember what it is, or when your body is craving something but you don't know what. There's a lot of trial and error as changelings rediscover their own identity. Adapting to Society I have to say, the life of a changeling must be very interesting. You wake up with only a vague sense of purpose and self, have no idea where you are or why you're there, stumble into an unfamiliar town, and then either you get recognized as a changeling immediately and have to be taught what that means OR you go your whole life thinking you just have amnesia until you put two and two together one day (if ever). To most, including themselves, changelings are simply travelers from distant lands who have come to live amongst new people… which is technically true. However, they will always feel slightly distant from the Mortal Realm, as if there’s something they don’t quite understand about it. In particular, changelings sometimes have trouble parsing the body language of others. This is due to the morality system of the Fae Folk, the familiarity of which still lingers faintly in the soul of a changeling. Luckily, the Fae's incredible talent for mimicry is passed down/taught to changelings. As a result, changelings pick up on language, basic social customs, and survival skills VERY QUICKLY... to a point. This skill wears off over time, really only serves to let the changeling "catch up" to the other mortals. If a changeling is created in a younger body, this would lead the child to seem extremely precocious as they become aware of things FASTER than other children at first. Unfortunately, if a changeling never learns a skill or custom before this social "growth spurt" wears off, they're gonna struggle to learn it later. This is why Lord Jameson is mute. However, it's important to remember that just because you can mimic something, doesn't mean you automatically understand WHY people do it or even enjoy doing it yourself. Much like adopted children, some changelings struggle with the understanding that they had a life in the Mortal Realm before this one, however brief it was. Unfortunately, there is no way for a changeling to uncover any details about their past life through simple research. For all you know, you could've spent hundreds of years in the Fae Realm before coming back, or else, woken up continents away from your old resting place. The only way for a changeling to learn any details about their past life would be to ask a member of the Fae. However, most will either refuse to answer or demand you make a deal with them first. The latter is VERY stupid and will probably end badly, so please don't do that. Especially because, even if you somehow managed to get an answer, find your birth family, and by some miracle, you had awoken as a changeling within a few decades of your original death... your family will have probably moved on, trusting that you'll find a home among the Fae Folk. That's kinda the whole point of giving young souls the opportunity to become changelings in the first place; not to send them into a life of uncertainty and sadness, but to give them a chance at finding a home of their own. Of course, like most adopted children, this part of their history will always weigh on them at least a little bit, but eventually, most changelings will make peace with their unknown origins, especially if they never find out any details. It's hard to miss what you never had, after all. Similarities and Differences Physically, mentally, and magically, changelings rarely differ from any other mortal human. They eat, drink, sleep, train to unlock their magic and find a focus (or live their entire lives without doing so), bleed, and die just like the rest of us. Upon their death, their souls face the same choices of fate that every mortal soul must face. Occasionally, changelings will be seen with inhuman coloration, shape, or texture of the eyes, skin, or hair, but this is often imperceptible except under close examination. You’d be surprised at how much humans overlook their fellows’ appearances. In fact, non-changelings will sometimes be confused for changelings and vice versa. A lot of non-changelings look kinda changeling-ish, and a lot, if not most, changelings don’t look any different from their non-changeling brethren. There's something sweetly significant about those moments of confusion. It really emphasizes the fact that, at the end of the day, we’re all still human. The same souls, just with slightly different physical vessels housing them. Changelings are not distinct enough from their non-changeling counterparts to be considered a separate race of being, because they’re not, both aesthetically and spiritually. Physical Differences to Non-Changelings (NEEDS TO BE EDITED) So apart from strange skin tones/Sepia tone skin, feathers for hair/strange hair colours, strange eye colours/dragon eyes, what other kind of things can changelings have as appearance differences/how far could someone go with customising their changeling? Like wings, claws for hands, scales or fur on the skin, multiple eyes, plants for hair, webbed feet, antlers, glittery skin, glowing eyes, rainbow skin, forked tongues, strange teeth, strange tongue colours, weird ear shapes, no eyes, gills, tails, etc etc. So to put it more simply what kind of physical appearances are the limit, what are the limitations on these things, if you have dragon eyes do they work like dragon eyes or are they more aesthetic? How far is too far? Okay, so the limitation is that the changes cannot violate basic human anatomy. (I think this might have been in my draft for the post that I then cut out oops). In other words, no wings, no horns, no funny bone structure, nothing like that. Changelings have the mortal form of your average human and thus have the same two legs, two arms, one head, one heart, one brain, two eyes, etc. deal. The only changes are cosmetic. It's as if you are building a lego set, can't find a black 4x4 flat lego that you need, and end up using a green 4x4 flat lego instead so you can continue building. The lego set will be structurally identical, but there will be a funny color somewhere in there that doesn't match. Depending on how many times you had to do this or where the replacement was, it might stand out more. No problem! Here are the options I would currently limit yourself to (but if you have other ideas you can suggest them and I'll say yes or no): -animal eyes -weirdly colored/textured skin -plants/animal fur/feathers for hair -natural minerals OR animal teeth/claws/scales for nails and teeth that's all I can think up at the moment but I'll post more if i come up with them(edited) And remember that changelings with these features are not common; just like you would prefer to build a lego set with the correct colors, the fae prefer to build a body with all the proper pieces. So realistically, changelings should really only have one or two blatant changeling features then? at the most... if they are coming from the kingdom. Changelings coming from areas where it is NOT common practice to bury small children and plague/war victims (or other situations where you can't bury everyone properly) in Fae Gardens... well, the fae might be dealing with less materials, right? But then, places where the fae have access to less human remains are ALSO places where the fae are going to have less access to souls who died in infancy or otherwise deserve the opportunity to live a new life (yes, there are TECHNICALLY exceptions to the has-to-be-a-baby-soul rule), so changelings with extremely dramatic inhuman features are EXTREMELY rare and have never been seen anywhere NEAR the kingdom to our knowledge Oh wait... I never mentioned the whole thing about how the fae make the bodies or the cool stuff that happens to corpses left in fae gardens did i? oops. hahahaha don't worry the changelings don't look like zombies there's still a huge mystery surrounding HOW the fae do it, but we have noticed that bodies left in Fae gardens will not decompose, but rather be replaced bit by bit over time with really cool natural things. Colorful rock formations, spectacular wildflowers, even the occasional bush or small tree. We assume that this is a sort of trade, in which the fae take the bodies and leave these natural memorials behind in return. The Fae are all about proper compensation after all (hence why you NEVER EVER make a deal with one EVER). We don't know why they consider this to be a fair trade or how they start with a dead, sometimes badly damaged body and end up with a changeling, but if we knew everything that wouldn't be any fun So you know how you said weirdly coloured/textured skin is a thing changelings could have, does that mean that a changeling could have skin that looks like they have a scale-like pattern on them, or like frost on a window but on skin like pattern, or look like the skin shimmers under sunlight like glitter or ice or something? Or maybe like leopard spots or zebra stripes like a pattern? And yes, I would say that a changeling could have a weird skin tone that looks like anything found in nature. Remember though, this is the lego set concept. It's unlikely that a changeling's whole body will be something not-human because the fae will want to try to make it as normal as possible. If it is full-body, then it's fainter. Case in point is Jameson Jackson, who has a very sandy brownish sort of skin tone that's probably a mineral or something but it's so muted and faint that its impossible to tell what the fae ended up using instead. The only thing I would warn against is adding natural effects to a changeling. Think of it more like natural materials than natural instagram filters. So scales and spots? Yes (assuming there are animals or animal remains in the region that HAVE those sorts of pelts). Sun sparkle or glitter? Probably not (we don't want to steal the twilight vampire's thunder). Frost on a window but on the skin? That... that just sounds like a frostbite burn. You don't have to be a changeling to get those. Sensing Souls "The Dead" are technically simply souls that have no physical body to hold them anymore and disperse themselves or seek the next life as they choose, right? And animals with a certain affinity for magic (such as cats) can tell when this energy has dispersed itself across a very specific area, (hence the burial traditions). While I don't think there is anyone in the mortal realm who would be able to commune or see these dead souls beyond a faint echo of their presence, I AM willing to bet that members of the Fae Folk can. I don't think changelings can, unfortunately. Changelings become almost entirely mortal and loose that weird made-of-pure-magic fae stuff when they are sent back to the mortal realm. However, I'm willing to say that changelings are very attuned to that sort of thing and can sense it better than regular mortals can, but I don't think they can TALK to those spirits/souls since their own soul is constrained to a mortal form. True fae who do not have such limitations can communicate with the souls of the dead as they please, however. Changeling Pairs Changeling “pairs” are this world’s closest thing to soulmates, both platonic and romantic. Souls in the Fae Realm often form platonic or romantic bonds with other souls, just like in the Mortal Realm. Unlike mortals, however, these souls aren’t separated from each other by physical bodies. Though the magic of each individual soul cannot be combined with that of another, two souls that spend a lot of time near each other can become “acclimated” to each other. If these souls become changelings, this bond between them will be preserved, despite losing all memory of the Fae Realm. Most of the time, this bond is simply a gut feeling of belonging; i.e. the stereotypical idea of a soulmate. However, in a rare phenomenon known as “Changeling Twins,” changelings with souls that formed strong familial bonds will often appear in physical forms that look very similar to each other, if not identical. These bonds are rare. Most souls who have found happiness in the Fae Realm decide to stay there. Becoming changelings means trading the openness of the Fae Realm for two separate, physical bodies. Worse yet, there’s a strong possibility that the changelings will not be able to find each other in the Mortal Realm, thus dooming them both to a mortal life that’s plagued with a subtle sense of loss. In truth, this is not nearly as bad as it sounds; many changeling pairs have lived happy, fulfilling lives before finally encountering each other, despite the feeling that something was missing. However, for two souls who have known nothing but the incorporeal magic of the Fae Realm... the idea is unbearable to even consider. Plus, not every soul in the Fae Realm can become a changeling in the first place; both souls would have had to have died in infancy. So all in all, actual cases of changeling pairs are very rare, and twins are rarer still. Public Acceptance Everyone knows about changelings and they are fairly common in Duilintinn. Other places, eh, maybe not, but King Sean and his people are very aware of, chill with, and decently knowledgeable about changelings on average. However, other lands aren’t nearly so chill about changelings as King Sean’s Kingdom happens to be. This is for a few reasons. First of all, some places just end up with a culture for a while that encourages being a jerk and that’s just how the world works and it SUCKS. So… yeah. Second of all, think about how people treat those perceived as "different" in the real world, even BEFORE you start including stuff like sepia-tone skin and dragon eyes and feathers for hair and whatever weird stuff the Fae sometimes decide to mix in while building a mortal form. Like seriously, you all have seen X-Men, right? Third of all, Duilntinn is something of an exception because it happens to be abnormally close to the Fae Realm. For whatever reason, more Fae Gardens pop up in Duilintinn than in any other nearby land and NOWHERE ELSE is there a permanent Fae Garden as large as the Western Forest. Therefore, Fae activity and, by extension, changelings are much more common in Duilntinn than most other foreign lands. Therefore, it makes sense that they are seen as fairly normal respective to how often they pop up and how much weird stuff ends up happening on the regular due to how much magic is constantly leaking into the kingdom. Neurodivergence Parallels Disclaimer Almost everyone knows that the changeling myth was a way of explaining developmental disorders in a time where they didn’t know anything about that sort of thing, right? Autism and Downs Syndrome are the two I can think of off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure there are more. Autism is the one I’m specifically familiar with (being on the spectrum myself), so I’m gonna be using that in this comparison, but know that this is not just something related to ASD. Now, as someone on the Autism Spectrum, I’ve always loved the changeling myth. It’s just such a cool thing to think of yourself as an otherworldly creature in a strange and boring world rather than look at yourself how the rest of the world tends to look at you. HOWEVER, there is the very nasty ableist part of that myth about how the “normal” children were replaced with “abnormal” ones, which echoes a lot of the ableist rhetoric propagated by Autism Speaks and their ilk. I really wanted to incorporate the changeling myth into this AU, just without the baby stealing bit, and the finalized concept of changelings that you see in the post on the Fae is how I ended up finding that balance. All that to say that my own experience with being autistic and just generally neurodivergent has influenced a lot of how I view changelings in this AU and, by extension, the answer to your question. See, it isn’t always super easy to tell if someone is autistic. Some people with ASD can be identified pretty easily, even by neurotypical folks, due to very visible/audible symptoms such as stimming, difficulty speaking, auditory stims, echolalia, severe sensory sensitivity, etc., while others will go completely unnoticed because their symptoms are much less obvious and usually explained away with, “they’re just a bit quirky/ditsy/unique/gifted/etc.” When we apply this to the changelings of The Watch AU, we see the same sort of variety. Some changelings might have really obvious physical differences and/or will have more difficulty adapting to the mortal world and the slight feeling of ‘otherness’ from spending time in the Fae Realm as a soul. Other changelings might have much more subtle physical differences or adapt quicker to the Mortal Realm and will often go unnoticed. One final note: Changelings are NOT a replacement for neurodivergence in this AU. You can absolutely have a non-changeling character who is also ND. For example, my main Watcher and self-insert, Bard Emily Keyes, is ADHD and on the autism spectrum like myself, but is NOT a changeling, nor will I be taking the new canon lore on the subject to say she is one retroactively. Whether you enjoy the changeling myth as a way to express your neurodivergence or prefer to have a Watcher who is truly ND without any magical, otherworldly explanations is absolutely up to you and no one else. Category:Messy Page